Phenax, God of Deception

Greven's Rating system:


On sheer power level I think it's only a 3.5. By itself it does nothing. But it combos with "creatures that get picked really late", and if it gets going it's unstoppable. Like with most gods in limited, I assume that it's never a creature.

A pack with this and say, Akroan Skyguard or Ornitharch... probably taking the white card. Red cards like Fall or Akroan Conscriptor; I probably take the God. There aren't any green or black commons or uncommons I would seriously consider over this. Kiora's Follower maybe.

I think that might make it practically a 4.5.

A funny first pack would be this and a foil Chromanticore!

4.0

The colors are the problem. If the table cooperates and you end up UB control, this is the perfect finisher. It should be a two-turn clock when you play it. This, Black Oak, Coastline Chimera, Guardians of Meletis, removal, Mnemonic Wall, removal, bounce ... it all fits. You could even go GB splashing blue. But it's so easy to get cut when you first-pick a two color card.

It's harder to get cut if you first 2 colors don't contain white. You can get cut out of blue but still get omenspeakers and menomic walls. Bwu or Bgu both probably work too.

5 for me.

In a normal BTT draft I will take this P1p1 and build the deck around it (assuming no foil rare/mythic). Pretty much this just wins the game on the spot. Given the high toughness of creatures and the ability that deck has to resist the aggro decks, this allows you to win very quickly.

Imagine the entirely plausible:

Turn 2 - Returned Phalanx or Omenspeaker (both common both going to be in any UB control deck)
Turn 3 - Servant/Adept/Triton/Oak (basically a whole load of cards with a minimum toughness of 3)
Turn 4 - Returned Centaur (mills 4 for bonus).
Turn 5 - God (mill 10)
Turn 6 - Even without playing anything mill 10

Assume your opponent starts with 33 cards in the library. By turn 6 he has drawn at least 5 cards so he has 28 tops and you've milled 24. That's game.

This is not a 'God' draw (no pun) except for the God on turn 5. All of the other cards have multiple options and are easily replaceable.

I actually lost a standard game to him - 2x Doorkeeper 2xHover Barrier + triton tactics mill you for 32.